Milestone for New Novel

As I sit here at my desk, I’m listening to the sound of my printer churning out pages for the first third of my novel that will be released in July. It’s a joyous sound—the independent publisher’s equivalent of a galley proof. During odd spots today when I’m not busy setting up Studio East’s Curtains Up celebration for tonight, I’ll be reading aloud from those pages and making corrections to any typos that I find. (I’ll try to find someplace where I’m not interfering with rehearsal or other parts of set-up.)

I’ve made a couple of significant changes to the order that scenes appear in novel, so part of my proofing will be making sure I didn’t introduce any errors when I made those changes. That is probably one of the trickiest parts of the process when you make a significant change at the last minute, but it was necessary to heighten the suspense and draw the reader in more fully without introducing miscellaneous characters at the last minute in order to get someone killed or chased. The journey from Istanbul to Adana and on was just taking too long with too much backstory being exposed at the last minute. And that at just the time when the reader should be held breathless.

Also, it is now one week until I close the survey collecting responses on the cover and title of the book. The winner of the drawing from respondents will receive an advance copy! It’s not too late yet, but the time has definitely come. The survey closes at 11:59 p.m. Friday May 20 PDT. At that time, I’ll be making the final decision regarding the title and cover (any of which could be different or modified based on survey comments). There is currently a clear front runner in the cover category, but two titles are virtually tied. Get your input in and be part of this new event.

Now I need to turn the paper over and print the other side of the first 128 pages!